Athletes are set to team up to help raise money for hurricane relief.

The Athletes Hurricane Relief Project, championed by veteran coach Steve Burgess and Lucky Elephant Yoga, will task participants with forming teams, to support the Salvation Army’s relief efforts throughout the storm-ravaged Caribbean.

Mr Burgess said that after seeing the devastation in the wake of Hurricane Irma, he immediately went to the Salvation Army unannounced to come up with an initiative to help.

“I did something in 2005 for Hurricane Katrina,” he said. “At that time, I knew I needed an on-the-ground type of operation to partner with, so I reached out to the Salvation Army and asked if I could get together a programme and they could get the funds to the area.

“I wanted to do the same this time. Originally this fundraiser was going to be just for Irma, but since then things have obviously got worse in the area.”

Hurricane Irma, one of the strongest hurricanes on record, caused massive damage to numerous island nations before Hurricane Maria struck just two weeks later.

Mr Burgess said organisers will be urging participants to form teams with the goal of completing a combined 1,000 minutes of exercise in a week, starting at 6am on October 9.

He added: “While in the past I have done a 24-hour event, I thought this time we should do a one-week event with the objective of including everyone.

“When we say athlete, we are referring to anyone who does anything. Walk, swim, bike. The objective is if you can do 100 minutes of exercise in a given week, at a pledge rate of $1 a minute, at ten persons per team that’s 1,000 minutes and $1,000. My dream is ten teams at 1,000 minutes, so that’s $10,000.”

Tali Gabai-Maiato and Alex Hasselkuss of Lucky Elephant Yoga said they were thrilled to take part in the fundraising effort after they had been moved by the plight of those affected by this year’s vicious storms.

Mrs Gabai-Maiato said: “I can identify with what it’s like to go through a hurricane here, but we have very good construction. I cannot even imagine waking up to total devastation, having no security, having no water.”

Mrs Hasselkuss added: “Living in a small island nation, there’s a natural empathy towards those suffering on other islands. If we experienced the same level of hurricane here, the damage would be far less.

“I have known Steve since I moved to Bermuda, so when he approached Tali and I, we were more than happy to help out. We try to do some charity events at the Yoga studio, so this seemed like a great opportunity to raise funds for a very worthy cause.”

Calvin Ming, director of public relations for the Bermuda division of the Salvation Army, said: “Athletes have big hearts. They like to give back to the community.

“Bermuda is blessed. We say that every year, but here is a practical way of taking care of brothers and sisters in the Caribbean. We know funds are needed because we have churches on the ground doing what they can.”

Pledge forms for the fundraiser are available now at Lucky Elephant Yoga. For further details, contact info@luckyelephantyoga.com or calvin_ming@can.salvationarmy.com